Golf tee



May 256, 1931. DE WITT P. BROKAW GOLF TEE Fiied May 16. 1930 INVENTOR j: nrPjj/Pmdqfl Patented May 26, 1931 UNITED STATES PA N oFFic-E DE win 2. Innoxaw, or Non-r11 I'LAINI'IELD, nnw mnsim i GOLF m Application filed" May 16,

My invention relates'to a tee for golf balls and more particularly to a type of tee which has a body portion and a peg portion for insertion into the ground to provide an anchoring means for the tee.

in the ground even after being struck a glancing blow by the club propelling the golf ball from its seat upon the tee. A still further object of the invention is to provide a golf tee which will not be broken when its upper portion is struck by the golf club and which will not be removed from its position in the ground although struck by the club. f

A more articular object of my invention is to provi e a golf tee having a ground penetrating peg portion and an upper seat portion, the latter being'pivotally connected to such peg portion, such pivotal connection being provided with a spring member which is adapted to return the seat portion of the tee from the substantially horizontal position into which it has been driven, when the golf ball on the seat is struck by the club, into its original vertical and proper driving position. Further objects of the invention will appear from the description hereinafter.

Specific modifications of my invention are illustratedin the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is an elevation of my improved golfployed to assist the vided a marker for instance,

1930. Serial 110. 452,831.

seat portion immediately after the ball has been driven from the seat.

Fig. ,3 is an elevation of my improved tee showing one of the means which may be em golfer in properly positioning the tee in the ground.

Fig. 4 is a top view of the'tee showing another means of guidin the player in inserting the tee into the ground in its proper position.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the tee, similar to that of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 shows a modified form of tion.

Fig. 7 shows a rear view illustrated in Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is a section along Fig. 9 is a section through the pivotal point along line 9-9 of Fig. 6, when the upper ortion of the tee is in its proper vertical iv-. 111%POSlti0ll.

eferring more particularlyto the drawings, in which similar reference characters identify similar parts in the several views, my improved tee comprises a peg portion 10, an upper portion 11, and a" seat ortion 12, provided with side ression 13 to cm a seat for the ball 13' indicated in outline in Fig. 1. The peg portion 10 is tapered to facilitate the insertion thereof into the ground. The

my invenof the modification entire tee, including sections 10 and 11 there'- line 8-8 of Fig. 6.

of, is narrower transversely in one direction than in the other, the proportions of the two widths being illustrated in Fi s. 2 and 3.

The portion 11 is pivoted on t e pe portion 10 on pin 14 passing throug the forked end 15 of the peg portion and through the tongue element 16 of the portion 11. Surrounding the pin 14 is provided a spiral sprin 17 embedded in a. circular recess provide therefor in the tongue element 16. The respective ends of the spring member are anchored inapertures suitably provided within the sections 10 and 11 as at 18 and 19. On the surface of the depression 13 forming the seat for the ball may be proan arrow '20, indicating the direction in which the top portion 11 and seat 12 of the tee is deflected when purpose of providing the arrow 20 upon the with the upper portion top portion when seat will be more fully described hereinafter. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the pe portion 10 of my-improved tee is provide with an angular flange 21 at the pomt of its meeting 11, when the tee is in vertical position ready to receive the golf ball. On the o posite side of the peg portion 10 a bevel ace 22 is provided. T e upper portion -11 of the tee is similarly provided with an angular flange as at 21 and bevel face 23, the latter being of an inclination substantially similar to that of the face 22 on the peg portion. These bevel faces define cut away portions of the tee which permit the 11 to be deflected in the direction of the drive.

In Fig. 3 I have shown an eye 24' provided on the peg portion 10 to which may be attached a c am 25 having at its end a disc 26 which may serve the purpose of identifying ownership of the tee or aid in locating the tee, should the latter by any chance be pulled from the ground when struck by the club. It is to be noted that because of the construction of m improvedtee, it would require a ver poor y executed stroke to strike the tee wit such force and at so low a point of its vertical length that it willhe pulled from the ground. 5-]

In Fi 6 to 9, a still'iurther modified form of my invention is illustrated. Instead of employing a spiral spring to return the up.- per portions 11 and 12' into their proper vertical position after driving, the body ortion 11 may be pivoted on pin 14 upon t e peg ortion of the tee by means of a swivel-type oint in which the forked element of the peg. portion comprises two resilient 'aw members 30, 31, concaved inwardly, .an the tongue convex on both sides to correspond with the concavity of the jaw members 30, 31. Thus, it will be seen that when the upper portion 11 of the tee has been deflected from its vertical.

position, the tongue and aw members will assume the position shown in Fig. 8, requiring only a slight efiort or pressure which may be exerted by one finger, to return the upper portion of the tee into its proper vertical position in perfect alignment with the peg portion 10, when the tongue and jaw members will snap into the position illustrated in Fig. 9. This latter construction employs a spring-like joint, the resilient characteristic of-the first described modification being supplied by the yielding jaw members. It will noted that t e upper portion 11 is deflected only a small amount, i. e., within a certain angle (less than 45 from the vertical the tongue lace within jaw members 30, us returning the upper portion of the tee to its original.

33 the market, the game suffers a considerable element 32 straddled by said jaw members is 'when placing t unconsciously throwth'e disc-and connecting chain away from rather than toward himmember 32 will automatically s back into slow up due to the fact that each time a drive is made from a tee, the player will take a brief period of time to retrieve the tee which he has knocked from the ground when driving. It is to be noted that only the most expert of players succeeds in driving a ball from a. tee without having his club come in contact with the tee. As the force of the drive is usually sufiicient to displace the tee from the ground and to drive it a small distance from the point at which it was placed in the ground, an appreciable period of time is taken by each player in looking for'the tee. As with each round of 18 holes of golf'at least 18 drives are made necessitating the use of 18 tees, the average golf player will take the few seconds necessary after each drive to retrieve the tee which he has knocked from the ground. Furthermore, when the golf club.

comes in violent contact with the tee in the ground it will usually break the same. The novel tee of my invention, will eliminate both the waste of time required for looking for the displaced tee at each hole. and the monetary loss incident to 'the breaking of a tee at each drive. It is to be noted that my novel tee is so construct'ed that when the golf club strikes the tee the upper portion thereof will yield and become displaced from its original vertical driving position but will, due to the actionof the spring, return immediately to such vertical position upon the passing of the club in the course of the followingthrough of the drive.

Since it is importalnt that'the tee be placed into the ground in a position in which the upper portion thereof will be flexed forward following the drive, I have provided two independent means of assisting the player in placing the tee into the ground in the proper position.- These means comprise (1) the rovision of an arrow (Fig. 3) on the surace of the depression 13; and (2) the provision of an identifying disc 26, and its attachment by means of a chain to that side of the peg portion 10 which is to be turned away from the layer, as the average player, e tee into the ground, will self.

In connection with the advantages of using my tee rather than those which are not provided with a hinged top portion, it is interesting to note that the game of the average goli player will be improved to an extent depending upon his own will power to has his mind on the one task of obtaining a per ect drive. It is a psychological vie/ct that anything which tends to make the playermaking the drive think ofv anything but the taskat hand will detrimentally afiiect the execution of the stroke. When, therefore, the player, when. taking his stance for the drive, subconsciously thinks of watching where his tee goes when it is displaced from the ground, the proper execution of the stroke and therefore the nature of the result obtained will be detrimentally affected. When using my type of tee the player need have no concern a ut either breaking the tee or losing the same and will therefore be able to concentrate wholly upon the drive.

As, when inserting a tee into the ground, it is usuallyplaced between two fingers of the hand which fingers straddle the body portion of the tee, the ball being held in the palm of the hand in contact with the de- 15 pression 13, I prefer, as already pointed out to make the width of the body portion of the tee in the direction facing the player smaller than that in the direction of the drive. This configuration of the tee body the ground.

While the modification of the invention illustrated in Figs. 1 to 6 is obviously the preferred one, certain of the advantages of the invention are present in the modification illustrated in Figs. 6 to 9. In such latter modification a perfect driving position of the tee is obtained by bringing the upper hinged portion of the tee into any position substantially that of its proper vertical po sition with respect to the peg portion 10.

will facilitate the insertion of the tee into\ her inserted between the elements of the fork member of said peg portion, -a pivot element passing through said fork member and tongue and a spring member, anchored atone en in the body portion and at the other end in the peg portion, adapted to return the body portion to itsoriginal vertical driving position after being displaced therefrom.

4. A tee comprising a ground penetrating peg portion, and a separate body portion having a tee seat, a pivot element/connecting the peg portion to the body portion, and resilient means associated with said pivot connection adapted to return the body portion to its original vertical driving position after being displaced therefrom when the ball is struck from the tee.

5. A tee comprising a ground penetrating peg portion and a body ortion having a tee seat, said body portion being pivotally connected to said peg portion by means of resilient means comprising jaw members co'ncaved inwardly and a convex tongue member whereby the body portion will be automatically returned to its original absolutely vertical driving position when said body portion is deflected from such original vertical position an amount less than degrees from the vertical.

" DE WITT P. BROKAW.

When the upper hinged portion has been I brought into such substantially vertical position, it will automatically, due to the swiv- -e'l joint type of hinge illustrated, assume an absolutely vertical, and therefore proper driving position.

While I contemplate making my novel the out of metal, it is obvious that any other suitable material may be used in its construction. Also, while I have described spe cific modifications of the invention, it is obvious that various changes may be made in.

the construction of my tee without departing from the spirit of my invention.

7 I claim:

1. A tee com rising a ground penetrating peg portion, an a separate body portion havmg a tee seat, a pivot element connecting the peg portion to the body portion, and a spring element at the pivot connection adapted to return the body portion to its original vertical driving position after bein displaced therefrom when the ball is struc from the tee.

2. A' tee comprising a ground penetrating peg portion, a body portion having a tee seat, a pivot element connecting the peg portion to the body rtion and a s rin surrounding said pivot e ement and anc ore in said body and peg portion to return the body portion to its ori a1 vertical drivin the same as been displaced therefrom.

3. A tee comprising a ground netrating peg rtion having a forked mem r, a body port on having a tee seat and atongue memposition when 

